As we get closer to the dropping of the writ and the kickoff of the federal election campaign, we are already being inundated with campaign-style ads and, of course, the incumbent Liberal government of Justin Trudeau outdoing themselves with spending announcements. Apparently, the old liberal game of trying to buy our votes with our money is climbing to new heights.
00:00:00.000As we get closer to the dropping of the writ and the kickoff of the federal election campaign,
00:00:14.120we were already being inundated with campaign-style ads and, of course, the incumbent liberal government of Justin Trudeau outdoing themselves with spending announcements.
00:00:24.740Apparently, the old liberal game of trying to buy our votes with our money is climbing to new heights.
00:00:34.580The difficulty for the voter in an election campaign is trying to separate the wheat from the chaff as leaders make announcements and promises and attack their opponents.
00:00:46.780Part of the problem is the use of photo-ops, which are mostly staged.
00:00:51.500Sometimes they're even fatal to a campaign. Remember the 1988 presidential campaign of Michael Dukakis with the photo of him wearing a helmet on an M1 Abrams tank.
00:01:01.500It was set up to show him as someone who could be an effective commander-in-chief.
00:01:05.500Instead, he was portrayed as weak and the photo was turned into an effective attack ad.
00:01:13.500I suspect the ad showing the Prime Minister on a bus as the everyman will have much the same effect.
00:01:19.500He gets ferried all over the place by motorcade and flies all over on the public dime on government aircraft.
00:01:25.500He also inherited a classic 1960 Mercedes 300 SL convertible with gull-wing doors that his father famously drove onto Parliament Hill.
00:01:34.500While he did show up for his very first cabinet meeting on a public bus, that too was a staged event designed ostensibly to show his government's modesty.
00:01:43.500Well, that was then. In the four years since, they have abandoned all pretense to modesty and have been spending like drunken sailors.
00:01:51.500The only difference is the sailor spends his own money. The Liberals are spending your money.
00:01:57.500This week alone, according to Global News' David Aiken, on Monday and Tuesday, the Liberals made 50 spending announcements, totaling $1.8 billion.
00:02:07.500There were another 22 spending announcements on Wednesday.
00:02:10.500Really, it's hard to keep up with the amount of money they are throwing around.
00:02:14.500Then there are the attack ads that have become so prevalent in election campaigns.
00:02:19.500Attack ads date back to 1964 and the infamous Daisy ad that became effective for the incumbent Democrat LBJ against Barry Goldwater.
00:02:29.500Since then, all parties in elections use them. Mostly they are nonsense and typically full of hyperbole, but they are perceived to be effective and that's why they are used.
00:02:40.500Expect to be inundated in the coming weeks with all manner of nonsense from politicians of all stripes.
00:02:47.500The trick for the voter is trying to sort it all out and then decide who to vote for.